Story of the Heart Pirate Children
by ElementalL'Cie
Summary: What if Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death and a pirate known for his cruelty, found himself stuck with five little thieves? And by little I mean children. Yes, Law now has five orphan children sailing with him as he heads for One Piece. How much will the story change? How much will the cruelest known pirate on the Grand Line change? Collab with unusualjuggernaut (Tumblr)
1. Babysitter Law Pt 1: Child Stalkers?

**This is a new series I created with the help of a friend I met at Ikkicon, tumblr name unusualjuggernaut. She's going to be drawing some cover art for each of the stories. I'm not sure if I want to separate all the stories or keep the series together in one since they're all supposed to be relatively short, like tiny arcs I guess. I dunno, help me out here. Anyway, it's going to be fun!**

**Credit to unusualjuggernaut for a good portion of the ideas for the series, as well as her art which I hope to put links to, the image for this story is from her.**

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He hadn't been on the island for more than five minutes and somehow he was already finding himself trouble, which was unusual for his usual stops. Normally, people stayed well away from him, as by now he was well known with a two hundred million Beri bounty on his head, and known for his absolute cruelty.

But for some reason, the people here didn't fear the name of Trafalgar Law, the infamous Surgeon of Death.

Correction, MOST of the people did, but they also seemed to be afraid of something else and THAT was the reason they avoided him.

Especially after he killed the annoying group of gangsters that dared try and steal from him.

It was completely their fault. He had been trying to gather information on when the Log Pose would set, and after learning it would be a solid four days before they could move on, he switched to finding a place for them to stay in and learning where they could buy the necessary supplies they would need, both to restock and for the course of their stay. However, as he was walking out of the inn near the docks, rooms secured, and on his way to check on his crew, about four or five – he didn't bother to keep count – random guys decided it would be smart to surround him and demand his money. He was about to snap that he would give them no such thing and was planning on just walking away when one recognized his face and decided they would try and take him down for the bounty, also spouting something about their boss having a grudge against him, he really didn't care.

As if a man worthy of two hundred million would lose so easily.

So, naturally, he killed them. Mostly out of annoyance for getting in his way and continually trying to order him around. A few witnesses, but he didn't really care…until suddenly everyone started avoiding him like the plague when before they were willing to at least comply with his wishes to avoid a fight. Even the inn keeper kicked them out and his men were disappointed to learn they'd have to stay on the submarine instead of getting warm beds for a few days. It got hard to get supplies as well, forcing their hand to threatening when people tried to shut them out.

"Jeez, what did we do?" Penguin grumbled as he leaned over the railing of his ship.

"Yeah, they were just fine with us before, if a little timid." Shachi nodded in agreement as he stood next to his friend. "Ya know, the normal way people act around pirates. Now suddenly everyone thinks we're going to kill them just by looking at them."

Nearby, Law wondered to himself if his earlier encounter with those gang men had anything to do with this new attitude. Was it really so surprising that pirates would kill people attacking them? Perhaps it was the way he killed them…most people did seem to find it disturbing when he used his ability on his opponents. He wasn't known for his mercy, after all. He was known for the exact opposite…but he hadn't really done anything worth kicking them out for. It was a quick death compared to most of his fights…so why was everyone suddenly so utterly terrified? If they were so scared of him, why would they risk his anger by avoiding him and not giving him what he asked for…Hell, he was even willing to pay since they had to stay for four whole days!

That meant they feared something else, not him. His actions must have brought about this fear; he just couldn't understand the reason behind it yet. The men he fought with were part of some gang…but again, he didn't bother to remember anything besides the fact that they were in his way. Perhaps this gang had a bad reputation here, and he had brought on something bad by attacking them. It was the only thing that made sense. So then, if they wanted their stay here to be at all pleasant, he better figure out what this gang was and deal with them so the people would stop avoiding them. Once they took out the threat, the people would go back to being timid but compliant.

He would worry about that tomorrow, though, as it was already late and he was sure the gang would be on the move at that time, making people even less likely to help him if he tried to get information, not to mention cause more trouble for him should they try to corner him again. Law sighed while in his room and ran a hand through his hair, wondering why this was happening to him now of all times. What would make some silly gang brave enough to stand against him anyway? Once a pirate reached a bounty of about fifty million, island gangs and bandits tended to back off from trying to fight them. He had two hundred million, so why were they so confident they could win?

In the morning, he had Bepo follow him as he went out to get information on this island's gang, wanting to stop the problem before it got too big. His loyal first mate carried his sword and kept an eye out for danger, though Law was hardly worried.

He met with little success, the people still steering clear of him. He managed to get some stuttered answers from a few before they bolted, and his annoyance was slowly growing with each failed attempt. All he knew was this gang kept their base hidden deep within the city further inland and was rumored to have connections with one of the Seven Warlords, making them untouchable. The latter part made him even more interested in this gang, wondering who would risk being connected to a gang while working for the Marines. Then again, it could just be something this gang made up to protect themselves…whoever the Warlord was would probably be furious to know someone was using their name for false power.

"Um, Captain." Bepo's voice made the surgeon pause, curious as to why the polar bear sounded nervous.

"What?" Law turned towards him.

"There are a few kids following us." A white paw pointed a little further back, Law following the point.

Sure enough, four kids were tailing them from a daringly close distance, just a few feet behind Bepo with confident smirks. Three of them were boys, one of them looking older than the others and clearly the leader, hair a dark brown and eyes sharp hazel, while the fourth was a young girl just a little younger than the leader by the looks of her, her hair in tight black curls and her green eyes glaring at them. One of the younger boys also had midnight black hair, short and messy, and his eyes were different colors, the left being blue and the right black. The youngest boy had still fairly boyish brown eyes and short, dark umber hair.

"So there are…" Law mused aloud, a little confused as to why these brats would be following him. What irritated him were their expressions, as if they knew something he didn't and could hold it over him to keep themselves safe. Not likely…but while known for his cruelty, he wouldn't go so far as to kill children. That rubbed him wrong several ways.

"Is there something you need?" He asked the kids calmly, hoping he could get them off his back quickly and be done with it.

"Nothing from you, pirate." The one he had assumed to be leader spoke up, lifting his head high with a haughty tone to match, further irritating the Surgeon of Death.

"Then why, if I may ask, are you following me?" Some of his annoyance showed through in his tone and Bepo gulped nervously, worried for the children.

"Not telling!" The girl stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, we've got our own reasons!" One of the other boys, the black haired one, added on.

Seeing as it wasn't worth his time and he really didn't care, Law sighed and continued his earlier path with Bepo close behind, the children tailing him from their same distance with little snickers and whispers. He managed to tune these out and focus on his task, a skill he'd learned over many years of having to deal with noisy people, but it was when he noticed people now avidly avoiding him that he got annoyed again. Because it was the kids they were running from, not him. They'd take one glance at the brats and flee from sight. What REALLY got to him was the few that spared a glance of pity, PITY, in his direction as they fled.

Why the Hell should they pity him?

Now frustrated, as these kids were making it impossible to gather information, not to mention were making people pity him, a pirate, Law stopped and turned briskly towards the small group. They jumped back a bit, startled by his sudden movement.

"Who do you work for?" He snapped, knowing the only reason people would for some unknown reason be worried for him would be because these kids were part of some group and their presence meant he was a target…perhaps of the gang whose members he killed, even, which improved his mood a bit. If he could get them to talk, he'd have inside information.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" The youngest child flinched back, before returning to his confident posture. "We're following you because we want to, pirate!"

"Doubtful." Law muttered, mostly to himself, but the kids seemed to pale a bit even as they kept their confident looking poses. "I happen to be looking for information, but unfortunately the townspeople seem to be afraid of me. I suppose it makes sense, me being a pirate, but I never knew I terrified them so much."

"It's not YOU they're scared of, stupid, it's our Boss!" The girl snapped back, apparently offended by his words.

"Oh?" Law smirked in his usual sinister way, having got his answer. The kids all stiffened in surprise and horror. "So there is a Boss? And who would that be?"

"W-We're not telling!" The 'leader' snarled. "Just know our Boss is onto you, Trafalgar Law! Boss is not going to let you leave this island!"

"And why is that?"

"Boss has got a score to settle!"

"Ah, is this about the men I killed yesterday?"

"Y-yeah, that's right!"

"Well then, I suggest your Boss come find me and solve the problem in person, not send a bunch of street brats."

Law turned away and ignored their complaining as he set a brisk pace, forcing them to practically run with how far his long legs carried him. He frowned a bit now that they couldn't see, coming to a few conclusions on his own. The kid had stuttered when answering the question about whether the grudge was because of yesterday, looking unsure even, as if he'd never heard of that particular fight. In that case the kid was lying and the grudge was for another reason, but being a high bounty pirate there was a great many things he could have done to piss someone off, so it didn't really help him narrow down suspects. Them knowing his name didn't help either, anyone who'd seen his Wanted poster would know his name and face.

"Are we going back to the ship, Captain?" Bepo asked in a quiet voice so the children couldn't hear.

"No, not with them. If I'm right, and I usually am, they're keeping an eye on me for their Boss. That leads me to think he's busy, or perhaps he wants to know where my ship and the crew are to use them against me."

"Ah, so we're not going back because then they'd tell the Boss?"

"Exactly." He held his hand out and Bepo dutifully put the sword in his waiting grasp. "In any case, they seem to be focused on me. You return to the ship and tell the others to dive out of sight, everyone should have returned by now."

"What about you, Captain?" The bear asked worriedly.

"Wouldn't be the first time I was on my own." The surgeon gave a small, reassuring smile and patted the bear's head. "I'll keep these brats off track and deal with the boss. Shouldn't take too long."

"Alright, Captain." Bepo nodded and hurried off.

"Huh, hey! Where are you going!?" The boy with multi-colored eyes snapped as the bear moved away.

Bepo muttered an apology and his head hung low, but he didn't stop walking. As Law suspected, the kids didn't follow, though they looked irritated by his leave. The doctor wondered if there was a way to earn the favor of the children, have them reveal secrets. He wasn't one for being overly nice, though, and it would definitely look suspicious if they knew about him. It was probably better to keep with what he was doing and trick it out of them with wordplay.

"So where is your boss exactly, if you're the ones following me around?" Law turned towards the children briefly.

"None of your business." The lead boy replied smugly.

"Ah, how loyal of you, not giving information while you keep tabs on me." The doctor smirked.

"Yup." The boy nodded, before he paled as he realized his mistake just as Law chuckled.

"So you ARE watching me for your boss."

"W-well, that was obvious!" The child countered.

"You could have just been following me to earn favor, a volunteer job, but now I know this boss of yours ordered you to, which means that whoever they are, they're busy with something and need to have me watched so I don't leave."

The children shuddered nervously, meaning he was spot on with his prediction. But like the leader had said, that was rather obvious; he was just confirming it as fact. The important information was still hidden, like who exactly was after him and why. That would take a little more work, as now they were onto him and his silver tongue.

For now, he would throw them off by pretending to ignore them. Through the smaller town at port he travelled, occasionally pausing to look at things at random and check to see where his followers were. The group never changed, always just close enough to keep up even with his long strides, not even the slightest bit tired. He gave them credit for the effort, they were tougher than they looked, but children couldn't resist the want to fall asleep at some point while he was an expert at staying up for hours on end, sometimes even days, without even trying. So, as the day grew darker, he found somewhere to lounge as he waited for his stalkers to take the bait.

He did try to get information out of them as they easily took spots nearby within speaking distance, but as he thought they remained stubbornly silent, not even bothering to answer him this time. He'd admit that irritated him a bit. He didn't like to be ignored. All he had to go off of were their reactions, the shift in their bodies when he mentioned a theory or if they scowled more than before with narrowed eyes. Anything to give hints that he was right. Children couldn't help their body language.

"Perhaps this Boss is just jealous of my bounty." Law mused as if to himself, his eyes darting over to see how they responded.

They scoffed and rolled their eyes. So no, this was not a jealousy issue, though if it had been he would have been annoyed for having his time wasted.

"I doubt they would be a problem to fight anyway." He added on to his earlier comment with a well faked sigh of annoyance, still eyeing them from under his fluffy hat.

They bristled, suggesting loyalty to this Boss, but wisely remained silent. However, he caught the flicker of emotion in their eyes that followed their brief anger, and it gave a whole new meaning to that anger; fear. They feared this Boss, and so they felt Law was being cocky for not fearing him too, hence the anger. Interesting. Was he in for a tough fight? Or was it just the minds of children easily scared? Clearly whoever was in charge of these kids were absolutely cruel, and with them being still now, he could see light scars peeking out from under their clothing. He frowned at that; beating kids? He may be a pirate but that was just wrong. Kids couldn't do anything; there was no point in hurting them. Well, he supposed it was so they did their job without complaints…like torture, which he was not below doing, just not on children. He disliked this Boss already and didn't even know who it was yet.

Wait, he had no reason to dislike this person because of a few bratty children following him around. Mentally grumbling to himself, Law stopped probing for information and just waited for the kids to fall asleep as he knew they would, thinking to himself to keep himself awake.

It took until a little after midnight for them to finally go out, the hours of sitting around doing nothing, waiting for him to do something, finally hit them with enough boredom that they conked out for a nap, thinking he wasn't going anywhere as he also had his eyes closed and wasn't moving.

Law smirked and stood, stepping over silently to the four sleeping forms all huddled together for warmth. He could kill them and get rid of his problem…but again, even he found it beyond heartless to slaughter kids, especially when they were sleeping and completely defenseless. He may be known for his cruelty, but he wasn't a demon.

He just left them a little warning instead before leaving to the sub. It was disadvantageous to be forced to stay at sea while they waited for the Log Pose, but they had no choice, as even when he attempted to threaten the Inn keeper to give them rooms, he gave any and every excuse to keep him out before just begging Law to leave so he could avoid trouble. Scowling dangerously, the surgeon was tempted to take the place by force, but he had two more days of hanging around this island and it was already bad enough, he didn't need Marines coming after him because he got upset. But at least now he'd lost his stalkers, smirking on his way back to the ship as he thought of the 'present' he left for them. He doubted they would bother him again, no matter how much they feared their Boss.

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**Here's my chapter commentary! So yeah, kids following Law around, Law trying to figure out the reason but deciding to just leave 'em. Will they take his hint and leave him alone or keep coming? Let's find out! Enjoy!**


	2. Babysitter Law Pt 2: Seeking out Boss

He blinked, hoping he was just seeing things.

Four faces, a little pale and shifting nervously, stared back at him with familiar scowls and false confidence, though the latter was subdued now. His 'present' apparently hadn't been enough to completely scare them off…which brought to mind more questions about them and their Boss. What exactly did this person do to scare children that even after he left them a warning message not to follow him anymore in blood with the severed head of the gang member it came from beside it they wouldn't leave him alone?

He noticed new, hastily made – and rather poorly he might add as a doctor – bandages on their arms and peeking out under their shirts, some of them still bleeding and the youngest boy sniffling behind the black haired boy while the two oldest, the girl and the leader, stood in front of them almost protectively. Law frowned, brows furrowing in thought. It looks like they got punished for losing sight of him. So that was the reason they came back to find him. Even as they paled under his stare, they refused to run away. Bepo was with him again, holding his sword, and the bear looked to his Captain curiously.

"How did you find me?" Law demanded of the brats, deciding that was important first. As shitty as the treatment was, they got treatment; he had no need to lend his own supplies for them. Especially since they were under his apparent enemy who had yet to show themselves.

"We know this whole island like the backs of our hands." The leader snapped a little more confidently, grasping at the advantage he had to boost his moral. "You can't escape us, Trafalgar Law!"

The surgeon just grunted in reply, annoyed, before he walked easily past them as he had before and pretended to ignore them. If what they said was true, no point trying to lose them again because they'd just make their way back quickly. Again, he took his sword from the polar bear with him and ordered the bear back to the crew so they would keep an eye out. Again, the kids complained but didn't break off to follow, their focus on the Captain.

Today they seemed to be having a harder time following him. The two oldest were fairly fine, but the younger ones were lagging, causing them to slow down to try and help. The very youngest seemed like getting too close to Law terrified him and wouldn't go past a certain distance, while the slightly older one had a limp that prevented him from going terribly fast, not to mention he was sticking with the youngest so as not to leave him alone. They were definitely scared of him, then, which was fine with him. He only wished they would actually leave. Unfortunately, they apparently couldn't, and he frowned at the thought of what punishment they would receive if they abandoned this mission.

He shook his head; he couldn't start caring about a few random children.

They were whispering again, but this time it was without the snickering and confidence, and he could hear them since the streets were quiet, people hiding away at the sight of the four injured children. Their wounds were hurting, and the bandaging was terrible, but while a few adults gave them the slightest looks of pity, they still bolted. They wouldn't even help them? Pathetic. Again, Law had to stamp down this sudden feeling of guilt at what happened, because he shouldn't care.

But they were just kids…

Dammit, now he was battling with his conscious.

He could still hear the youngest sniffling, the girl falling back to comfort him while the leader kept as close as he dared. He could hear the whimpers of pain and the black-haired boy saying how the bleeding had started up again, which he knew meant open wounds and possible infection. He quickly pushed aside his doctor self; he was a pirate, dammit, he did NOT take care of kids…

"Boss said if we make sure not to lose the pirate this time, then we can go to a doctor, okay?" The girl said reassuringly to the whimpering umber-haired boy.

Law gritted his teeth and kept walking.

"No one wants to help us." The boy with the limp grumbled. "Boss knows that."

The surgeon was gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles were white, trying desperately to block out their saddened voices.

"We'll find help…I'm sure." The girl argued.

"I'm telling you, as long as we're under Boss, no one will help us. Everyone acts like we're monsters." The black-haired boy snapped.

Law froze, his mind flashing back to a tall man wrapped in black feathers that tried so desperately to help him, and his younger self screamed at him that no one would help, that all they saw him as was a walking virus waiting to kill them, a monster.

"Fucking Hell." He snarled under his breath, knowing he'd already lost his mental battle.

The kids jumped back in fright when he pivoted sharply on his heel to face them, looking down at them with a cold steel glare. As he stepped towards them, they shuffled back nervously, wondering if he was finally going to kill them. He'd made it clear in his warning, even if not directly mentioned, that he wouldn't hesitate to kill those who messed with him. The youngest began to cry in fear, the girl standing in front of him with a green-eyed glare up at the much taller pirate, willing to try and fight though she was painfully aware of the outcome.

"Who treated you?" He asked instead, looking at the leader of their group.

"We treated ourselves." The brown-haired boy snapped. "We have to keep an eye on you, didn't have time to see a doctor yet."

"Or perhaps you can't?" Law countered, referring to the conversation he'd overheard.

They scowled at him, not answering because he was right; they had no option to see a doctor. Sighing, Law went a different direction, knowing they'd follow simply because they had to.

Needless to say the children were surprised when they came to the docks, spotting the bright yellow sub docked nearby with a few tense men in white boiler suits standing on deck and the polar bear they'd seen since yesterday. It was the bear who came down when Law motioned one over, and they couldn't hear what was said, nervous now that the dangerous Captain had his crew with him as well. They watched warily as the bear nodded and hurried back to the ship, darting inside while Law stayed just past the boundary of the docks, not getting close enough for the children to see the men on board clearly; clearly he did that on purpose.

After a few minutes, the bear came back out with someone else, the man bearing a backpack as he came off the ship and towards his Captain, Bepo staying on deck and watching from afar.

"Everything's in here, Captain." The capped pirate said, handing the backpack over.

Law took it easily and slung it over the shoulder not occupied by his sword, nodding to the man to dismiss him. The pirate glanced at the four children, who stiffened, before moving back to the ship quickly, Law heading off in a different direction and forcing the brats to follow.

Though curious about what was in the backpack, the kids stayed silent as they continued their march behind him, following him with watchful gazes. They were definitely wary of whatever could be in the bag.

Law still wasn't sure why he was doing this, but it was too late now, so he side-stepped into an alley, stopping near the middle, hearing four pairs of little feet stopping some ways away.

"Come here." He ordered them, carefully setting the bag down and using his foot to bring a sturdy crate closer to him. His sword was placed up against the wall.

"Why should we, pirate?" The leader scowled, suspicious.

"I'm a doctor, so I'm going to treat you." Law stated calmly. They had full rights to fear him, considering his 'present' and of course the rumors over his head.

"More like poison us." The girl bit back, even more mistrusting than the oldest.

"I wouldn't waste something that sophisticated on a couple of brats." He smirked, before his expression softened a bit as they shrunk away. "I have no reason to kill children."

"Why would you help us, anyway?" The leader snapped. "You made it pretty clear you didn't want us to follow you, but we still are…aren't you mad?"

"Annoyed, yes, but you're not the issue, your boss is. Now," He nudged the crate with his foot, "come here. No point getting information from you if you die of blood loss. I plan to deal with this little problem on my back before I leave, so I won't be going anywhere." He smirked again. "I'm looking forward to meeting this Boss of yours."

They shivered nervously at his sadistic smirk, but they seemed to be in agreement that he had no reason to kill them and they might as well accept help while he offered it. The black-haired boy's limp was getting worse the more he walked and the youngest was bleeding again. When the girl checked her own status, she grimaced as she noticed her bandages were also soaked through with crimson, as was their leader's. They didn't have much option if they wanted to survive this mission for their boss.

So, cautiously, they approached him, staying in a group. Law knelt down so he wasn't quite as towering to them, which seemed to help quite a bit as they shuffled over quicker. The youngest squirmed against the others, clearly still terrified, but since his injuries were worse mostly because he was smaller and thinner, therefore at more risk, he was put up on the crate first. Law allowed the girl to sit with him so he wouldn't try to run, making it easier for him.

He tried to be a little gentler with them than he was with his crew, since his crew were obviously tougher than these thin kids and used to pain, but he could tell by the way they flinched he wasn't doing all that great. He just wasn't a gentle person; he was pushing it deciding to treat them in the first place. The crude, bloodied wraps they'd used were quickly removed and he cleaned the open wounds with practiced ease, hardly even having to think about it except to TRY and be gentler. The kid was already terrified of him, no point making it worse and making this harder. A frown crossed his face when he saw one or two wounds needed stitches, but he doubted they'd let him close enough with a needle to try and just put antibiotic cream to hopefully avoid possible infections while wrapping them up tighter than the others. He stressed to the children that those needed to be kept clean when possible and when he mentioned the stitches that he should have put he got the expected answer of wary scowls and a crying kid that quickly darted away as far as he could without actually going out of sight, hence why he waited until after treatment to tell them.

The other three, while cautious, were more compliant when he treated them. The older two even allowed him to do stitches on the one or two wounds they had that needed them, which they then used to show the younger two. Of course he wasn't going to remove bandages just to put stitches on them – not that they were going to let him even with the leader and the girl reassuring them – as that was a waste and he didn't have time for it. His job done, Law went on his way, returning the backpack to his ship the same way he'd gotten it before strolling back through town, this time heading deeper inland to the bigger part of the city. Perhaps then he could find this boss and be done with things. It'd be nice if he and his crew got one night to stay on land.

Now that he wasn't constantly mulling over the state of their wounds, effectively shutting up the doctor in him, Law chose to ignore them once again in favor of exploring the big city, making sure to stay out of sight. He didn't want problems with the gang; he just wanted to find the boss. Cut off the head and the body dies.

It wasn't until night was falling and he turned back to go to the ship, a bag with a few supplies he'd managed to get from some of the braver merchants in hand, that he noticed something was different. It took him a moment to remember he was supposed to have followers, and currently he did not have them. Had he lost them to the crowds? Perhaps that was for the best, though he had yet to find this annoying presence that seemed to hold reign over the island.

He paused in his thoughts for a moment, remembering the results of the children losing him the other night. What kind of injuries would they return with tomorrow? Or would they even show up? There was a hard feeling in his gut and he scowled at its presence; he wasn't supposed to care. Then it all went back around to the Boss; it was their fault the kids were being used like this, their fault the brats were being severely abused, and their fault that he was having this inner debate with himself on whether he should find the children or not.

When he managed to convince himself that he was a pirate and none of this crap mattered, his mind threw another thought at him to counter his decision. Or, more specifically, a memory.

Everyone treated these kids like monsters because of who they worked for.

People moved away skittishly at the dark look on his face, but he ignored them. Damn it all, he needed to find those brats. He just fixed them up; he wasn't going to let some stupid gang leader that had a beef with him take their anger out on a couple of kids just because their stupid Boss underestimated the target. Gritting his teeth, Law back-tracked, looking for the four stalkers to make sure they knew where he was, and therefore saving them from punishment. But he couldn't spot them. That made his anger rise even more. Once he found this Boss he'd make sure they knew EXACTLY how pissed he was for all this trouble.

He was about to head back to the ship, for perhaps the children thought he headed that way – although they would find nothing since he'd ordered them to submerge until he returned – to the docks, when a cry of pain brought him to a halt. It definitely sounded like that of a child, so he moved towards it, faintly hearing an angry voice before another shout of pain. He sped up his step a bit, not wanting to seem like he was in any hurry to help but not wanting too much damage to be done.

He caught the scent of blood, causing him to scowl. This Boss was a beast, making a mere child bleed so much that even he, a human, could smell it, although he was a little more accustomed to the smell and could therefore recognize it quicker than most.

The angry shouting voice seemed to be gruff, yet still distinctly female, which gave him pause. Then he shook his head and kept going; no one specified if the Boss was male or female, he just assumed male as it was a gang, but that made him even more furious because women were supposed to have a more maternal instinct to PROTECT children, not torture them.

He was close enough to hear words, as well as the sobbing of the four brats.

"…IDIOTS! TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW YOU LOST HIM! ARE YOU THAT STUPID!? IS HE THAT HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF, ONE PIRATE!?"

"We-We're sorry, Boss!" The girl cried. "Th-There were…too many people!"

"BULLSHIT!" The Boss roared.

Now he could see them, hardly even bothering to hide himself as he took in the scene, no one noticing him at the moment. The children were huddled together, shaking in absolute fear as a tall woman towered over them, built almost like a man but with definite curves that still proved her a woman, hair cut short and slicked back so it wouldn't get in her face, one arm holding up a metal bat of all things to hit them with. Several members of the gang hung around the edges, two standing near the woman, and all were sneering down at the poor children like they were trash. He noticed a fifth child, one that looked almost identical to the black-haired boy (twins?) except the eye colors were switched, this one also cowering but safe from punishment as she was held to the side, crying, by one of the men on the side.

The bat came down just as Law stepped into the area, his eyes widening in shock at the brutality being shown, the clear snap of bone sounding as the metal came in contact with the oldest boy in the group of four, bringing out a scream as he brought the broken appendage tightly to his chest but refusing to step away from the others. The girl also had several blackened bruises from trying to protect the youngest.

"YOU'RE USELESS, ALL OF YOU!" The Boss screeched, bringing the bat up to swing again, and in the position her current victim was in she would hit his head, which would result in death.

Oh that crossed the line.

"Room." The word caused everyone to tense, the woman pausing in her beating before suddenly the bat was away from her…along with her arm.

The Boss gave another piercing screech at the loss of her appendage, whipping around in fury to the perpetrator.

"There are some things even a pirate like me won't do, and beating harmless children to death is one of them." Law scowled fiercely back at her, showing he was not going to hold back simply because she was a woman. She'd pissed him off, and not just because she was about to kill kids, silly kids that wouldn't have been able to keep up with him anyway, but because she'd made him CARE in the first damn place.

"Well, perhaps they were useful after all." The woman sneered, forgetting her severed arm for the moment as she calmly faced off against the pissed surgeon. Her men, however, backed away warily. "Hello, Trafalgar Law, I see you're as cocky as ever."

"I'm afraid we've never met." He scoffed.

"Doesn't matter!" She snarled. "I know you very damn well. You ruined any chance I had to work under Joker!"

The name seemed to only worsen the Surgeon of Death's mood as he glared at her with all the hate he held for that name. She did flinch back a bit at the sight, now a little doubtful about how the situation was set up. Law already had his Room up, and she knew what happened once you got trapped in his operating room.

"Stop standing there, fuckers, and kill him!" The Boss snapped at her wary men.

Law smirked evilly as they rushed towards him. This was going to be fun.

* * *

**So kids still decide to follow him because their Boss made sure they would. Law doesn't take kindly to the kids getting beaten just for losing him (I mean seriously how are they going to keep up with him, he's a deadly pirate, the Boss is kinda stupid thinking kids could keep tabs on him all the time) so he decides to help them. Now he found the boss! Time for some payback for the last few annoying days! Enjoy!**


	3. Babysitter Law Pt 3: Five New Pirates

The sharp sound of his sword sliding back into the sheath snapped the children out of their daze. All five of them were huddled in the corner, having watched the massacre unfold and realizing just how lucky they were that Law didn't harm children. It could have been them in pieces with blood seeping into the ground and walls while he kept that sadistic grin in place.

Now that he was done, though, he sighed heavily and frowned. The close quarters made it harder to fight, and the woman was a quick one. Even with one arm she did give him some difficulty since at the moment he couldn't move whilst his Room was activated, having to dispel it before blocking or dodging attacks. He planned on changing that but for now, it was a setback. Still, he won, as expected, and now perhaps his crew could get the necessary supplies. He needed to make sure word spread about the death of the gang, though, so that in the morning they could do just that.

First, though, to tend to the remaining five living people in the area.

He knew they were probably terrified to the core, especially since he had blood splattered on his clothing and arms, but still he approached them, not really caring how scary he looked. They huddled closer together, looking at him with wide eyes as if they thought they were next.

"Now you can stop following me." He said simply as he looked down at them. "And get yourself treatment. The doctors should take care of you now that this one," He kicked aside the Boss's head, "isn't around to prevent that."

Then he pivoted on his heel and left them alone, simply glad he didn't have to deal with them anymore. As he left the alley, he made sure someone noticed before he motioned back down the alley with his head, simply walking away after that. Someone would check, find the massacre and the surviving kids, and tomorrow they'd get their supplies and prepare to leave.

But when authorities arrived and went down to check, all they found was the massacre, not that they knew there were any survivors to begin with.

Law's crew was glad to hear that for once they could TALK to people to get the very necessary supplies for their travels once dawn broke. It was still upsetting they never got to stay at the Inn, but they'd had worse before and so let it be. They remained docked this time around instead of submerging since now there was no threat. It wasn't even that big of a problem, which annoyed Law more than anything because of all the pitying glances he'd kept getting the past few days. They should have pitied the boss, not him. Though…he did hope they weren't under Joker's protection. He didn't want HIS attention drawn towards his crew just yet.

There was a knock on his door as he lay in his bed, causing him to push his thoughts aside and look to the door, one brow rising in curiosity. What did they want at this time of night?

"It's open." He called.

The door opened a slight bit, revealing one of his assistant navigators.

"Um, Captain, there's something you need to see." The man stated, looking a bit unsure about bothering the surgeon so late at night.

Law pushed himself up on his elbows.

"What's wrong?" He questioned, not really bothered since he wasn't sleeping anyway.

"Well, um, there are some people on deck that wanna talk to you." The pirate shuffled nervously. "Some kids. They're demanding they see you…they look pretty beat up."

With a good idea of who they were, Law scowled and pushed himself up, getting out of bed and out of his room, grabbing his sword along the way. He was sure he'd have been done with anything involving this stupid gang, so why did they have to bother him now?

"I told you to find a doctor." He snapped at the five kids huddled in a group on his deck, their gazes darting warily between the men in white boiler suits and the polar bear in the orange boiler suit.

"W-We did!" The leader countered.

Law sighed.

"I meant on the island." He clarified. "I have no more business with you. Your Boss is dead and the gang surely disbanded, you'll get treatment and it won't be from me."

"It doesn't matter if the Boss is dead, someone'll just take over." The older girl snapped. "Besides, we've done bad things under Boss, no one will help us."

"What makes you think I will?"

"You helped us once, didn't you?"

"I needed you alive to bring your Boss to me."

That wasn't completely true, they could have brought in the boss either way, limping poorly or not, but the children didn't need to know he'd cared in any way. Still, when the children flinched and looked hurt, taking his words to mean they were just bait to get to the big prey, he felt a stab of guilt in his gut that made him scowl.

"Captain, what are we going to do?" Penguin looked to the surgeon curiously. Most of the men were prepared to toss the kids off should he give the order, though a few looked somewhat sympathetic for the brats, Penguin being one of the latter.

"We can…we can help steal supplies!" The male twin of the two black-haired children piped up. "We do it all the time! They won't bother us, and we've never been caught anyway!"

"Yeah, the people here still won't help you even with the Boss gone, but we can get you what you need!" The youngest boy added, still shaking a bit in fear.

"Just please, let us go with you! We hate being here! We wanna be pirates!" The oldest girl stood tall. "We wanna be free!"

That struck a chord with the Heart Pirates, as they could relate to the children. Freedom was the reason most people became pirates, and why they fought so hard to keep it. Still, Law didn't want to take them, because in the end they were just kids, a liability, and a danger. They were easy to kidnap, to persuade into telling secrets. He had so easily pried information from them, and he was hardly trying. With enough pressure, they would easily talk. Plus, his men didn't have the time to protect them anytime they were attacked.

"I'll treat you, but you're not coming with us." Law told them finally.

"We have nowhere else to go!" The leader pleaded.

"You're too young to be pirates, you'll just die." The surgeon argued.

Bepo, Penguin and Shachi, his closest friends in the crew and the ones that knew him best, gave the man a frowning sideways glance. They knew their Captain had been a pirate since he was very young and survived just fine, so he was hardly one to talk. He only glared back, daring them to say it aloud, but they remained silent, Bepo bowing his head in apology.

"We can take care of ourselves!" Again the leader was practically begging.

Law looked over each of them closely. Th youngest had to be around eleven or twelve…just a little older than himself when he first became a pirate. And the oldest looked about fifteen or sixteen, which was when many boys left to be pirates if they had a good reason to be and a hatred for Marines. The two girls looked more resilient than most, even if the younger was hiding behind the older shyly. They were at the prime age to be taught how to fight, or perhaps learn other skills. None of his own men would hurt children, or do anything creepy to them, since he made it clear he despised people like that. There were pirates, and then there were beasts calling themselves pirates that took things too far. He despised the latter as much as any Marine.

The surgeon sighed. He supposed he didn't have much argument now. They were stubborn, he'd seen that first hand, and perhaps he could find a use for them if their thieving skills were as good as they said. Treating them and then leaving them here to possibly be killed by the remnants of the gang was a waste of effort…might as well give them a new purpose.

But he wasn't going to let them in free.

"I'll treat you tonight." He explained. "Then you're going to rest as long as possible, I'm aware a few of you have broken bones. Those of you I deem well enough for physical activity will attempt to…procure as many supplies as you can."

He smirked as their faces lit up, understanding his condition and nodding vigorously in agreement. They then followed him quickly to the infirmary where they were told to shower and get clean before he and his two medical assistants dealt with their wounds. There was a spare storage room in the sub that was cleared out and had cots lain out as a makeshift room for the children to sleep in away from the adults until they could work on setting up proper sleeping arrangements.

In the morning, three out of the five were able to take on the task of thievery, as Penguin and Shachi had gone out and confirmed no one would have any dealings with them. At least this time it was because they were terrified of Law, not some silly gang boss, which the surgeon was actually just fine with. It was the reason they should have been scared since the beginning. It's what they got for trying to pity him. The two children remaining behind stayed in the infirmary, the leader with his broken arm incapable of carrying, making him a liability, and the young male twin with his persistent limp that Law had determined was a twisted hip.

Throughout the day, the kids brought in whatever was on the list for the pirates, getting some help from the older men if things were bigger items. Those who went reported to Law how the children were able to determine the stealthiest routes in and out, how to distract people and were even able to help the Heart Pirates get away when one of them screwed up, which Law found amusing since the man had to be saved by a child. These kids definitely had promise as spies.

"So we can go, right?" The eldest girl, who led the small group with their actual leader out of commission, asked him as she handed over the last of the stolen supplies. "We can go with you guys?"

"You were all surprisingly very useful." Law smirked. "I look forward to your work in the future."

That was as good of a 'Yes' as they were going to get, so the children happily rushed back inside the sub to their comrades to let them now. Well, the older girl and the boy rushed in, the younger girl paused next to him shyly. He looked at her curiously, wondering if there was something she wanted. Was she perhaps in pain? Did she get hurt in one of the thieving trips? That wouldn't do, she already had to recover from her own set of cuts and bruises, though she was better off than the four that had been forced to follow him.

The girl worked up her courage and hugged his leg, as she barely reached his waist, and his eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't expecting that. What did he do to deserve a hug? It's not like he showed any sort of kindness to them, didn't treat them any differently than he would his own crew since they were going to be pirates and had to toughen up.

"Thank you for saving us." She whispered up to him with a crooked smile, missing a tooth.

It took him a minute to remember that she, along with her friends, was present when he slaughtered the majority of the gang they were forced to serve. He didn't really count that as 'saving' them, since he did that to get the mobsters off his back, not to save them.

Still, she was cute, so he relaxed from his stiff posture and patted her head of messy black hair in reply. If that's how they took his actions, so be it, he got some new crew members. The child giggled at his touch before rushing off after her friends, bringing a small smile to his lips. How could anyone hurt a couple of brats like that? He'd make sure they got taken care of. It brought back memories of the one who'd taken care of him when he needed help, and he knew how important it had been to him, those memories, and how important that person was. He didn't plan on dying, but he'd keep them safe.

They left the island quickly before people could trace the thieving to his crew and call for help, their five newest members finding their places within the crew to help as best they could, following Law loyally and with more effort than they ever gave to their Boss.

Though he did get upset when they tried to start calling him 'Papa' instead of Captain like they were supposed to.

* * *

**Aw, they call him Papa, hehe. So now Law's got five orphans in his crew as master thieves, yay! That's the end of the first story in the series! Enjoy! I hope to finish the second 'arc' eventually, but as some of you might know I've got other stories to finish, and I will be trying to focus on those first if I can.**

**Anyway, again, Enjoy!**


	4. Eagle Fruit Pt 1: Job for the New Kids

A young boy rushed through the metal halls of a submarine, heading for the infirmary. He knew it fairly well by now, having been living in it for close to a month, and his memory was almost photographic. The eleven year old turned corners sharply as he came to them, easily avoiding the older pirates in the way as they watched him run by in confusion, only catching a glimpse of his dark umber hair and skinny form as he passed on his way to his destination.

He came to the room he wanted and skidded to a stop, remembering the rules of the ship. Taking a moment to catch his breath, the boy lifted a hand and knocked on the thick metal door.

"Come in." A smooth voice called back.

The boy pulled open the door and headed inside quickly. The person he wanted to see was sitting at the desk in the infirmary, dark hair covered by his usual fluffy white hat with spots, his legs up on the table as he leaned back to look over some notes in hand. Golden colored eyes looked towards the pale, heavily freckled boy approaching him. Next to the tall man was a girl only a year older than the young boy with messy hair of midnight black cut short and wide eyes, her left being black and the right a dark blue.

"Papa!" The boy called out to the man, stopping next to him. "Papa, I've got news."

The older male sighed heavily at the name, finding it annoying he was still being called that no matter how many times he told them to stop. The girl sitting nearby giggled lightly, but he ignored it.

"What news, Daniel?" The Heart Pirate Captain, Trafalgar Law, asked in a weary voice. In the month these kids had been on his ship he'd given up trying to stop them from calling him Papa. They listened perfectly on every other account, but when it came to addressing him they refused to change.

"We made it to the island; we're going to be surfacing soon. It's a spring island and really windy, and there's two other pirate ships around so the island is pirate friendly." Daniel reported with a small grin and a salute.

"Thank you, that's very important news." Law smirked, ruffling the young boy's hair before standing and heading out of the infirmary. "Dextra, we'll continue studies later."

"Okay Papa." The girl answered quietly, hopping off her seat and standing just a bit shorter than Daniel despite being older.

The Captain grumbled at the name again, still annoyed, but as always just left it alone as he walked away.

"I wonder if he's gonna make us do anything here." Daniel turned to the small girl, brown eyes filled with curiosity.

She just shrugged her shoulders before reaching up to grab the book up on Law's desk, tucking it under her arm before heading towards the door. Daniel followed her out, the two heading back to the room they stayed in with the other children. Law would come for them if he had a job for them to do.

The other three children staying on the submarine with them were already in the room, apparently also waiting to see what they would get to do. Dextra's twin brother, Book, was tinkering with something Penguin and Shachi had given him, the only difference he had from his sister being his eyes, which were switched from hers; his left eye was blue while his right was black. Otherwise they had the same short, messy black hair and light skin of a toasty color. They wanted to wear different things so the crew would stop getting them mixed up, since none of them paid attention to the difference in eyes, but everyone wore the white boiler suits.

Sitting back on her bed, a bored Thursday tossed her throwing knives at a dartboard across the room, her green eyes hardly even looking at her target. Her tight black curls were up in its usual ponytail, skin a light tan and her mouth set in a frown since she wanted to be doing something. At fourteen she was starting to grow a bit into a feminine body, but was still fairly thin and boyish in appearance, not that she cared. The last of their group and the oldest at fifteen, Heinrich, was pacing in thought, somehow managing to avoid getting hit by the thrown knives, or maybe Thursday just made sure not to hit him. The boy had short, dark brown hair and eyes of hazel currently narrowed in thought, skin a dark tan. He was short for a boy his age, but hated being reminded of that, so no one ever made comments because of his fiery temper.

At the arrival of Dextra and Daniel, Thursday lost a bit of concentration and got a little too close to Heinrich for comfort, making her wince. Luckily the boy didn't seem to notice and kept pacing.

"Jeez, way to pop up all of a sudden." The older girl sighed, glad she wouldn't have to deal with their 'leader's' hot-headedness right now. "Papa say anything about going to the island?"

"Not yet, but we haven't gotten there yet." Daniel reported. "He should at least let us go with Bepo to look around like he usually does if there's nothing interesting."

"You mean if there's nothing he wants us to steal." Book corrected absent-mindedly.

"Yeah, pretty much." Thursday shrugged. That was their main job, after all, steal anything Law felt was valuable enough to get but didn't feel like working for or buying. He usually only did that when they were low on Beli, though, from raiding Marines and rival pirates. Otherwise he had enough respect to pay for things.

"What are you making, Book?" Dextra walked over to her brother and knelt down next to him, still holding Law's medical book in her arms.

"Oh, um, just a little something to help with stealth missions." Book held up a pair of strange goggles. "Even we can't see in the dark, right?"

"Oh, cool." Daniel looked at the item curiously, as did Dextra and Thursday. Heinrich seemed to notice there was a conversation going on and stopped pacing, looking to see the number of people had gone up from three to five.

"Hey, when did you two get here!?" He exclaimed, pointing to the two youngest.

"Just now." They answered together.

"Hey Heinrich, look." Book held up his new gadget. "If I can get these to work we'll be able to go out even when it's pitch black."

"Sweet, where did you get that idea?" Heinrich took the gadget in excitement and looked over it. He put it on for a moment only to quickly take it off. "Whoa, bright!"

"Well yeah, it's so you can see in the dark, but if it's already light it'll just blind you." Book rolled his eyes at his leader's ridiculousness.

"Uh, right, I knew that." He handed the younger boy back the goggles. "You're pretty handy with gadgets, Book."

"I've been learning from Penguin and Shachi." The black-haired boy beamed, soaking up the praise.

"Among other things." Thursday scowled; she'd seen the 'other' things the two mechanics had shown the boy and was not pleased in the slightest. He was still too young for that as far as she was concerned.

A knock interrupted them before they could argue over it, as they would often do, and Bepo's furry head peeked into their room.

"Captain would like to see you guys." He reported.

"Okay." The older girl answered as she stood from her bed, getting back the knives she'd been throwing and replacing them in their hiding spots. Heinrich realized then she'd been throwing them and paled a bit that he could have been stabbed at any point if he hadn't been careful.

Daniel rushed over to Bepo and jumped onto the bear's back as he usually did. Grinning, Bepo made sure he was on tight before walking off with the other four kids following behind him, Thursday jealous of the youngest child. Heinrich quickly headed up to walk in front with his head high, trying to look like more like a leader. Ever since joining the Heart Pirates his role as leader had kind of dwindled, since they had the older pirates above them and then the Captain at the top, with Bepo as first mate. Didn't stop the oldest from trying to have some authority. Though he growled a bit, Bepo just let him be, since they all knew he was really the one in charge, second to Law.

They arrived on deck with the other Heart Pirates, the Captain easy to spot among the white suits as he turned and headed towards them, Daniel jumping off the bear's back. They stood quietly before Law as he stopped in front of them to speak.

"Thursday, you'll be coming with me and Bepo. The rest of you can go with the others for supplies." He turned away to head off, before pausing and looking back at them with a smirk. "If you just can't help yourselves, at least try not to get caught. The Log Pose takes thirty hours to set."

Permission to steal always made the kids grin and snicker, as they had yet to be caught. Even on their island where people knew their faces and what they were good at, they were rarely caught, so all these islands were easy prey since they were unknown.

Thursday followed along beside Bepo as Law headed through the town on his own, his sword in the bear's paws as the children learned was common.

"So what are we doing?" The child asked cheerfully.

"Observing." The Captain replied easily. "Perhaps there are interesting rumors about, something of use to us."

Understanding, the fourteen-year old went quiet and listened to her surroundings while still making sure to keep the tall figure of her Captain within sight. He always seemed to be on top of things and she wanted to learn that skill as well for her 'family'. As annoying as they could be, the other four kids were the closest thing she had now to one. She hoped the Heart Pirates could add on to that, even if Law didn't like being considered 'Papa' when they said it.

The surgeon paused to look at something, drawing the gaze of his two subordinates as they looked to see what had caught his attention. Just on the outskirt of town was a run-down warehouse, and the people around it definitely looked shady. There was a group of pirates as well, undergoing some kind of exchange before separating and acting as casual as possible to avoid suspicion.

But to a trained eye like Law's, the entire set up sent up a red flag. He smirked. This must be an underground source, and he liked to mess those up every chance he got. Considering these guys were hardly concealing themselves to the public eye, let alone from people who knew the underground, they couldn't be very big in the black market, so he wasn't too worried about inciting the wrath of the big shots. One in particular he would prefer to avoid, but anyone working with HIM wouldn't be this stupid. Plus, he knew the signs of anyone who dealt with HIM, and these idiots were far from it.

"I think I have a job for you and the others later, Thursday." Law said casually, as if discussing the weather.

The girl took another curious look before smirking up at him.

"Anything valuable, right?" She snickered as they started making their way back to the sub.

"Including information." He responded. "I do advise some caution, anyone involved in the underground could be potentially dangerous. These guys don't seem all that high up in the market, but you can never be too careful."

"Understood, Papa."

At that Law grumbled again, but ignored the name and continued on.

For the rest of the time they stayed generally low profile, the Captain making sure to get some rooms since they'd have to stay overnight at least once. The plan was to infiltrate the warehouse tomorrow to see what they had hidden within. Law kept an ear out for any rumors, anyone who might have seen the exchanges and could provide him an idea of what was being kept inside. Book showed his new goggles and Law thought it would be good to test those that night along with having the child map out the warehouse for the others. One would go with him in case something should go wrong, but since it was just a scoping they shouldn't run into trouble.

Once darkness fell, Book set out with Heinrich to check out the warehouse, switching out of the white boiler suits into darker clothing so as not to be easily spotted, hoods and scarves hiding their faces. They vanished into the night almost as soon as they walked out of the door, and so the Heart Pirates settled into the inn to wait for their return, knowing it would take at most an hour depending on how big the warehouse actually was.

The whole time, Law couldn't help glancing at the door, waiting for their return. The others noticed but didn't say anything, since he wouldn't like people openly pointing out his worry, worry he tended to deny because he refused to look worried over a couple of brats. Dextra distracted him from his thoughts by asking for his help with studying again. After all, she knew her twin best, and he wouldn't do anything reckless, so if she wasn't worried he didn't need to be either. Thursday looked after a sleepy Daniel as she also waited impatiently for the two boys to come back.

Somewhere around midnight the inn doors opened, and two figures stepped inside. The Heart Pirates all looked over.

"That place is really big." Heinrich huffed, dusting off his shirt and pulling down his hood and neck scarf to speak better. "It took us forever to look over all of it."

"Sorry if we're late, Papa." Book smiled apologetically as he pushed his new goggles up onto his head, also pulling down his own scarf and hood. "These things helped a lot, though."

"What were you able to find?" Law questioned, his posture relaxing a bit but hardly noticeable even to those who knew him.

"Well, they sure don't keep it guarded like they should." The oldest reported, handing over a piece of paper with a sketchy map of the warehouse that Book drew utilizing his night vision goggles. There were arrows pointing at various spots on the outer edges with brief descriptions of entrances inside and how visible they were, as well as the possibility of being an emergency exit. The children were thorough when it came to thieving; it's why they had never been caught. "Isn't night supposed to be when there are the most people?"

"So not only are they bad at hiding, but they do their work in broad daylight where everyone can see." The Heart Captain frowned, wondering if idiots like this were even worth stealing from. In the end he might as well just take a few of his men and plunder the place, it was doubtful there'd be much of a fight and underworld brokers this dumb wouldn't have connections to anyone important. "Good job with the map. Did you perhaps see anything inside that's of any worth?"

"Everything gets put in boxes at night." Book answered this time, stepping up next to his sister. "Some big stuff got left out, but they're mostly just illegal boat parts and big weapons, nothing we can grab. Everything else is put away."

"I have no need for either of the items you mentioned, but I do wonder if there's anything of worth in the boxes." Law mused. "I suppose you'll be finding out tomorrow."

"I wanna go this time." Dextra pouted in Heinrich's direction, since Law usually let him pick who went, they knew each other's skills the best. "You know I'm the quietest."

"I know, I know." The short teen replied with a wave of his hand. "It's pretty big, but all of us probably shouldn't go."

"What if you get spotted?" Thursday flicked her wrist and a dagger shot up between her fingers. "I'll make sure no one gets too close."

"And I'll go to get the bigger stuff if there is any." Heinrich smirked, his chest puffing out proudly. "So Book, you watch Daniel, okay?"

"Alright." Book shrugged. He'd gotten to test his new gadget, so he didn't mind if he stayed back with the youngest. Plus, he and Thursday would butt heads during missions, so if she was going it was better he stay back. The trio going worked pretty well together, anyway, so they were the best bet to get as much stuff as possible without getting caught.

"For now, though, you all need to sleep." Law cut in now that they were done deciding their groups. "I don't want you messing up and getting caught just because you're tired."

"Yes, Papa." Dextra stood to head to the room the children were in with her brother even as the others pouted, trying to silently plead with their Captain to be allowed up longer. A stern glance and slight frown had them grudgingly following after the twins.

"You should know by now Captain doesn't give in to the puppy dog face." Penguin teased them as they walked by.

Daniel stuck his tongue out at him. The other pirates, Shachi included, laughed at Penguin's shocked expression.

* * *

**Yay, the kids have names now. So this is about a month after the first 'arc' and some interesting things happen. Time to see what kind of trouble these kids get into. Enjoy!**


	5. Eagle Fruit Pt 2: Warehouse Trouble

With an agreement to meet up with Penguin and a few other Heart Pirates when finished, the three children on the job of stealing took one last moment outside one of the open parts of the roof to plan. It was cloudy, so the sun wouldn't give them away with shadows, and the noise of the wind would cover their footsteps on the metal roof.

"Again, hardly anybody here." Heinrich mused as he took a peek down below. "I guess they just want the place to look abandoned."

"So then the people staying would be really strong to compensate, right?" Thursday questioned.

"Maybe, or they're just idiots." The boy moved away from the hole and turned to face the girls. "Doesn't matter, we just won't get caught. Ready to find the valuables?"

Dextra nodded silently while Thursday smirked.

"Okay, remember, every five minutes, take whatever you've got and get out, we'll hide them in that spot we found and meet up for a moment to make sure nothing happened, then back in. If you didn't get anything, just try again next round. There might not be much in here that's actually useful."

The girls nodded again.

"Be very careful, okay?"

"Oh come on, Heinrich, stop being a mother hen and let's go." Thursday rolled her eyes.

"Hey…" The boy pouted, but obliged and moved back to the hole, pulling up his hood as he did so and covering the bottom half of his face with a scarf. The girls did the same, an extra measure in case they were ever seen.

Carefully they descended down into the warehouse, their chosen entrance near some heavy pipes they could use to climb down. The lighting throughout the place was fairly dim, using mostly small lamps to light certain areas, and there were only two large doors, one leading towards the town and one on the opposite side facing the coast. The hole they came through was one of several in the huge, worn down building but the others were all too small to fit them anyway, and so also didn't let in much light. So, they were fairly well hidden, and no one ever looks up for possible intruders anyway.

Once on the ground, they looked at each other one last time, and after a silent signal from Heinrich, they split up.

Dextra, being the smallest, climbed up to the higher stacked boxes. Fragile things were usually stacked on the top due to possibility of being crushed, or so it had been on other islands. She peeked through each carefully, testing each box to see if it would open easily and without too much sound. All of them carried little tools that let them open up sealed boxes of many kinds, including lock picks and a curved iron piece with a forked end to pull out nails. When these were needed, they had to make sure no one was around in case the attempt made too much noise, and they had to be quick. This she was, as silent as a cat while she searched through each crate, taking anything that looked like it would sell for a lot and was easy to carry.

Thursday kept to the ground on one side of the warehouse, her routine similar to Dextra's as she kept a constant watch on her surroundings, a dagger ready in her hand at all times. There were lots of expensive looking pieces, but gold was too heavy for the first trip and they were all pretty big. She stuck to pocketing things like jewelry or small weapons, remembering where the gold items were for the next few rounds. Other than that, there were lots of fancy furniture pieces or weapons she'd never seen before and weren't sure were useful. There were also more sinister things like poisons, rare animal corpses that had been stuffed – or not, which she quickly kept away from since the smell would catch attention – and even parts of important people – or so the labels said. She wasn't sure whether to be disgusted by people in the underground market or intrigued, because really some of these things were so far-fetched she wondered who the people that wanted them were like.

Heinrich, knowing the girls would stick to mostly gems and treasure – though he knew Thursday would get weapons, too, and Dextra might start sneaking medical stuff if she found any – decided he would go after things like gadgets or rare parts for Book to mess with. He still went for the precious things, mind you, but he tried to expand his search as well as he could. If it ended up being useless, at least he can say he tried and just toss it out. These people wouldn't need it anyway.

After five minutes they snuck past the people inside and headed to the exit closest to them before moving to their nearby, temporary hiding place. There they dumped what they had and put it together to see what they had so far, check if it was worth keeping or not.

"Whoa, nice first round." Heinrich praised them as he shuffled through the expensive looking pieces they took, throwing out a few that had cracked from being crammed with others and therefore clearly fake and worthless. Luckily fakes were few this time around. "We'll get a lot for this stuff."

"I rather like this." Thursday held onto a long dagger with a jagged edge on one side, the hilt bearing the shape of a wolf. "This will be my share."

"Just that?" Dextra asked with a slight head tilt, as the older girl usually tried to get away with keeping more than just one item.

"This time, yeah." Thursday grinned, adjusting her ponytail slightly. "I'm satisfied with this find."

"Alright, things are going well." Heinrich stood, since the three of them had been sitting around their catches, and dusted off. "Ready for another go?"

The girls were up and ready without further prompting.

The thievery continued another two rounds without incidence, the guards none the wiser to their loss of merchandise. Did they even check their items regularly? The children didn't even bother putting the nails back in after a while, and still no one seemed to know any different, as long as they put lids back on to make it look unopened. Bit by bit they claimed the treasure for their Captain. Heinrich found some treasure he'd keep for himself to use for trading at some point and Dextra managed to find the rare books. Maybe useless for selling, but as she looked through them they had priceless knowledge, and there were a few she thought their Captain might like. Since she found them, she hoped that meant he'd let her use them whenever she liked, they looked interesting.

They took a short break at Heinrich's insistence, as he didn't want them to overwork themselves. Rolling their eyes at his fussing like some silly older brother, the girls obliged if only so he wouldn't complain. After that, they went right back to it, eager to find more and please their Captain. He was expecting a good catch from an underworld market storage place.

Dextra headed back to where she found the books, wondering if there were medical items to go along with them. There did seem to be some order to the place. There was a crate filled with vials of medicinal herbs and bottles of medicines. She definitely needed to get this to Law. He would appreciate it. That thought in mind and a small smile on her face, she looked for a way to carry it out. She was capable of carrying it, but it still made some escape spots impossible to go through, and the bottles would make noise as she moved if she wasn't careful. She would need help with this one. Checking around her, Dextra made sure no one was around before giving out a small bird call, their signal for assistance. With the holes in the ceiling, it shouldn't be surprising there were birds, so hopefully no one came looking. Now she just had to wait for the other two.

She heard voices, unfamiliar ones, and ducked behind some crates quickly. Once assured she hadn't been spotted, listening to the voices move closer – at a safe distance still – she peeked out to see who it was. It seemed to be another pirate, and he seemed important by the way he carried himself. Talking to him in an excited voice was another man, this one rather thin and lanky, but still holding himself with pride, dark red hair cut just below his ears. When Dextra spotted his almost black-colored eyes, she shrunk back down, getting an unsettling feeling in her gut at the sight of him.

They were getting close enough for her to hear them, so she stayed hidden. If they were this close the risk of being seen was too great.

"…will be worth Joker's time." A voice spoke excitedly. It must have been the creepy man, as the other one hadn't looked all that excited. She also wondered who Joker was.

"It better be, you know he doesn't appreciate having his time wasted." The other voice sighed, as if annoyed.

They crossed through the boxes onto her side, giving her a fright, but she managed to keep quiet and duck underneath where they wouldn't see her still, hidden in the shadows of the crates. She could see their lower halves as they paused just feet away, looking at something there. She hadn't checked that area yet, so she didn't know what valuable thing they might be making off with.

The voice of the pirate gasped and she saw him take a step back.

"See? It's exactly what you think it is." The creepy man chuckled. "Rare and well worth Joker's attention, don't you think?"

"It…does seem that way."

"Seems?" Now the creepy man sounded angry. "Do you know how many men I lost retrieving this Devil Fruit!?" Dextra held back a gasp. Devil Fruit? Rare? Oh if only she had noticed it earlier, Law would definitely want them to grab this. "Look, this is a power Joker would love to get his hands on, trust me."

"Alright, I'll go speak with him…you may have an offer after all." The pirate walked away.

"Tch, even the grunts act like royalty." The creepy man scoffed. "Oh well, to get in business with Joker…" He laughed. "I'll be rich!"

Now he walked away. Or at least started to, until he paused near where she was hiding. She held her breath, anticipating being found, but after a moment that seemed to last days, the creepy guy walked away.

Dextra waited another minute before crawling out of her hiding spot.

Someone jumped down in front of her and she stiffened.

"Just me." Thursday whispered, finger to her lips. "Nice hiding, no other problems?"

"That wasn't the problem I needed help with." Dextra replied quietly. "But listen, that guy, he said there's a Devil Fruit here."

"I know, but it sounds like it might be TOO valuable to grab, we want to take as much as we can and the moment that fruit is gone we'll be in trouble."

Dextra frowned but knew the older girl was right; they couldn't take a risk like that. Instead she showed her other prize, the crate full of medical supplies, and told of her problem with figuring out how to escape with it. The contents would be priceless to a doctor, and their Captain was one Hell of a doctor. Heinrich joined them and offered to take it since he hadn't found much and so didn't have much extra weight. With a promise to return quickly, he headed off and the girls stayed put, watching for danger.

As time went on, curiosity got the better of Dextra and she went over to where she had seen the two men standing. Thursday followed, thinking she was just looking for more valuables to nab while they waited for Heinrich. While that was true, the younger girl had a very specific treasure in mind. They had tons of things already, so what if it ended early, right? They could take the fruit and just leave real fast. Whoever this Joker was probably wouldn't miss it anyway; from how the pirate acted they didn't trust the creepy man to be good for anything anyway.

Amidst the crates was a tiny, almost unnoticeable box, and yet completely obvious because it was set atop a huge one with nothing else around it. This had to be it, it was in the right spot where she had seen them standing and talking, and it was about the right size for one fruit. With one last nervous gulp, she reached up and lifted up the lid.

She and Thursday gasped. It really was a Devil Fruit, the odd swirls and stem marking it as nothing else. A vibrant blue and shaped vaguely like an egg, the fruit rested in the box with a soft bed of cotton to keep it from being crushed.

"Dextra, leave it, those guys sounded like trouble." Thursday warned.

"But Thursday, they said it was rare." The smaller girl looked up at her. "It might be something powerful, Captain might want it. If not, it could sell for a lot, that guy said he'd get rich off of it."

"True." The older girl weighed the pros and cons of the situation. Whoever this Joker guy was, his grunt acted like he really wanted this fruit, it might be beneficial to be the ones to sell it instead. Either that or use it, not like these rich, snobby underground people could actually do anything about it. "Okay, but quickly. We don't want to be here when they come back for it and it's missing."

Dextra nodded, taking the fruit out of the box before closing it again. That would give them more time, as taking the whole thing would be noticed immediately from afar. Holding it close to her, she followed Thursday as they moved to sneak away.

Only to run into a big, burly guard.

"And where do you two pretty girls think you're going?" The creepy man Dextra had seen earlier was sneering down at them, several of his guards with him. "So you were the little rats sneaking around my warehouse. Sounds like you have been up to trouble, darlings."

Thursday stepped protectively in front of Dextra, immediately arming herself with throwing knives in one hand and her new wolf dagger in the other. The elder girl snarled up at the men while the younger moved back, not realizing her hood had fallen down when she ran into the man.

"That's also mine!" The creepy man scowled, pointing at the dagger she wielded.

"Finders keepers." Thursday spat back.

"I was kind of hoping you'd say something like 'you can have it back over my dead body'." The man scoffed. "Because that's what's about to happen."

He motioned to the guards, a silent order to capture them.

"But do be careful, they're rather pretty little things, they might be worth something." He sneered.

"Like Hell!" Thursday bristled at the hidden threat of enslavement and threw her knives, piercing one of the approaching men several times in the neck and once in the forehead for good measure. He collapsed quickly to the ground; the others looked stunned for a moment. "Got more where that came from!"

The next ones she threw were, however, dodged, and her intended target lashed out with the butt end of his blade, knocking her back into several of the crates.

"I said be careful!" The boss growled.

"Thursday!" Dextra called out in surprise as the older girl groaned and pushed herself up weakly while wincing in pain.

She spun back around as the other men approached, once again slow and confident as they leered down at her shivering form, not expecting much of a fight from her. They also couldn't risk destroying the Devil Fruit clutched tightly in her hands.

A figure jumped off the tops of nearby crates, catching everyone's attention, and suddenly Heinrich latched onto one of the men, getting his arms around the man's head just as he reached up to get the boy off and twisting roughly. The guard crumpled down next to the first dead one and the child landed in front of Dextra, looking ready to kill the rest. He'd sparred with the Heart Pirates; he could handle a few burly idiots with swords.

"Stubborn brats." The creepy man snarled, pulling something out of his coat. The children paled as they saw a gun aimed at them. They couldn't dodge that. Heinrich moved in front of the girls to at least protect them. "I was hoping to catch you easily and make some profit, but skill like that means it's not worth the effort of catching you unharmed, and that fruit in the girl's hand is worth more than a thousand of you miserable street rats anyway.

"Dextra, grab Thursday and run." Heinrich ordered. He didn't hear movement behind him, so he risked a glance back, noticing the girl was still shivering, watching their enemies approach with wide eyes. "Dextra!"

"But…!" She snapped her gaze to him. "There's no more exit…!"

Sure enough, the guards had blocked their only escape route, and after a quick look Dextra saw Thursday's ankle was twisted, so she couldn't climb up. Not that they had the time to with the creepy guy aiming a gun at them.

"We're trapped…" Thursday snarled. "At this rate, it might be safer to just get captured…at least we can escape later."

Luckily their opponents didn't seem to hear, keeping still while they waited to see if their boss was going to shoot them or not. Similarly, the boss seemed to be giving them the chance to give up. Heinrich did hear her, though, and hated the idea. But it was safer than trying to fight back and getting shot at. They weren't skilled enough yet to do that without heavy casualties. They'd only been pirates for a month.

So, with great reluctance, he lowered his arms out of his fighting stance. At the sign of surrender, the creepy man grinned victoriously.

"Much better." He chuckled darkly, putting his gun away.

The men moved forward to tie up the three children, reaching Heinrich first since he stood in front. The boy was glaring darkly at them, which made them shiver a bit despite the fact that the kid was so much smaller than them. There was any number of death threats in that gaze and they weren't very fond of finding out what they were.

Just then they heard the sound of crunching, and everyone, everyone, froze.

In a last ditch effort to save her friends from death or enslavement, the latter something she didn't want any of them to go back to after escaping their former gang, Dextra had decided to eat the Devil Fruit.

* * *

**Oh noes, she ate the fruit! And they don't know who Joker is, so they don't know how much trouble they're in! Or maybe not, Joker maybe doesn't care, but that's for a later date. Let's see how the situation goes down now. Enjoy!**


	6. Eagle Fruit Pt 3: Eagle in Hiding

"You stupid girl!" The creepy man roared in anger as Dextra coughed; that fruit tasted horrible!

She dropped the rest of the fruit and watched it melt into a pile of useless, rotten goo, a hand to her throat as she reflexively gagged at the utterly terrible taste of the rare fruit.

"Dextra, what did you do!?" Thursday shouted, horrified.

"I just…wanted to help." A strange feeling washed over the girl. "It's rare…so it's gotta be strong, right? That means if I use it, we can escape!"

"We could have escaped later and just given up the fruit, you didn't have to eat it!"

"S-sorry!"

"Fine, we'll just give Joker the brat!" The boss threw his hands up in exasperation, black eyes narrowing furiously at the three children. "Grab her and let's go!"

"Okay Dextra, now would be a great time to use that power." Heinrich called back, scowling at the approaching guards.

"Um, okay, uh…" Not sure how to use this new power, Dextra stood from her kneeling position next to Thursday and concentrated. The name of the fruit was coming to her, along with a basic idea of what she could do with it. She'd heard of Devil Fruit eaters knowing the names and basic abilities of the fruits they eat moments after eating it, and it seemed that was true.

Focusing hard, the young girl brought forth her power. Slowly she began to change, Thursday's eyes widening as her fellow orphan became something no longer human.

"A Zoan-type…" She gaped, watching Dextra grow feathers and talons, the guards pausing with worried expressions at the large bird beginning to take the place of the child. "An…eagle?"

Flapping her new wings experimentally, Dextra let out a piercing call befitting an eagle, her feathers mostly white save for a crest of black on her head, her eyes still the same differing colors which looked odd for a bird. Though terribly scared of her situation, she let the rush of the moment move her as she launched forward, clawing at the guards with her deadly new talons.

"The Eagle-Eagle Fruit, taking the form of the great Harpy Eagle. It truly is the lord of birds…" The creepy man looked awed for a moment at getting to see it for himself, before remembering he was on the opposite side of the one using the power and making a run for it.

Seeing their boss flee, the others were quick to follow, hurrying to get away from the angry raptor. The one already pierced by Dextra's claws was left for dead as she let him go, leaving him bleeding and screaming in pain on the ground. Normally she'd feel bad, but they were still in danger and needed to escape. Heinrich was already heading to an escape route with Thursday, helping her run despite her twisted ankle. Seeing as they would be fine, Dextra perched atop a tall pile of boxes for a moment to calm down, sharp beak open as she panted. Her eyes were wide and looking around in fright, wings still partly open and ready to fly the moment there was danger.

But she knew she couldn't stay long. She was too easy to spot in this white feather coat, vulnerable to guns. The hole in the roof was nearby. Well, flying was still a little clumsy, but she should be able to make it. Her enormous wings easily lifted her up, right up to the roof. She let her instincts take over as she dipped down a little before shooting up, right out of the building.

Only to be nearly thrown away by the wind. She quickly transformed back into her human self, landing hard on the metal roof but at least not at risk of being blown away. Shakily she pushed herself up, looking around again just to make sure. After spotting no one, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, taking long steady breaths to calm down and think. They had gotten caught. They had almost been captured and probably enslaved, taken from their Captain. She had eaten a Devil Fruit…one of the cursed fruit of the sea. She didn't like getting in the water to begin with, her childhood fear of drowning and joining her parents at the bottom of the sea making her scared to go any deeper than her knees. But she could at least swim if she fell or was pushed in. Now, though…she shuddered as the rumors of Devil Fruit users sinking like rocks, paralyzed, weak came to her mind. Her fear of drowning just intensified.

She sniffed, hugging her knees a little tighter. She should have listened to Thursday and stayed away from that fruit, then all this wouldn't have happened. Her head shot up…Thursday. Was she okay? She had gotten hurt, so she probably needed some medical attention…how were they going to explain this to Law? He'd be so mad at them being careless, would probably punish them. But first she need to make sure Heinrich and Thursday were okay.

With how windy it was, she didn't want to try her new form again, not while it was still so new to her. Instead she took their planned route down and headed to the hiding spot where they had hidden their stolen goods, making sure not to get spotted and washing the blood off herself. Now that her face had been seen it would be stupid to just run around, easy to spot, so she had to be extra careful. Assured she was alone, Dextra rushed inside.

"Dextra!" Thursday called out in surprise.

The younger girl latched onto her, the events of the day finally crashing down on her after assuring herself the others were okay.

"Hey, we're okay; it's just a sprained ankle." Thursday said soothingly to the crying child, pulling the girl onto her lap. "We were worried about you, you know. Heinrich was just about to go look for you."

"Are you okay? Did they get you at all?" The oldest boy questioned quickly, kneeling down next to them with a worried expression.

Dextra just shook her head to the second question and the older children let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, we definitely can't go back." Heinrich mused aloud, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "So we better get out of here as quick as we can."

"But Thursday's hurt." Dextra argued.

"It's just a sprain, Papa can fix it." The older girl assured her.

"Wait, we can't tell him." Heinrich hissed. "We're not supposed to get caught, remember? We messed up big time."

"Heinrich, I'm injured; he'll know something went wrong." Thursday huffed.

"He'll be really mad though…" Dextra hung her head sadly. "Especially since I…ate that fruit."

The older children shared wary glances. Their treatment in the past hardwired them to think such a mistake could end in horrible punishment.

"Well…okay, we won't mention that part. That fruit was meant for some big shot, if Papa finds out we took it and Dextra ate it we'll be next on his operating table."

The younger girl shivered in fright and Thursday glared at the boy for his choice of words. They respected their Papa, but sometimes he still scared them, and mentioning his…habits didn't help.

"Look, it's probably no big deal; this Joker guy might not be all that great." Thursday attempted to reassure them. "We'll worry about the fruit business another time, for now let's just stick with we screwed up and I…um, I sprained my ankle on a falling box while we were escaping. Twisted it a bit when it moved out from under me."

"Yeah, we still got away with stuff, just a little slip up." Heinrich nodded. "Nothing too bad. That way it's not too big a deal, he won't be too hard on us." The boy put a hand on the smaller girl's hair and ruffled it. "Okay Dextra? Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong, you just wanted to help. We'll make sure Papa doesn't find out."

The young girl frowned. She didn't like lying to Law, but she was afraid to find out her punishment if he learned of what she did. Something like that, even he would get angry with her, and it would be like their old life all over again. They all were afraid to disappoint Law, their time in the crew had been short and therefore they could easily be discarded if they weren't useful anymore. Though he was more lenient than their old Boss, they had it ingrained into them that failing to do one's job meant severe punishment.

So despite the guilt already settling in her gut at having to lie to Law, Dextra nodded her agreement to their idea.

"Alright, I'll go get Penguin and the others." The boy told them, moving towards the exit and looking out warily. "You two stay put; we'll be back in a minute."

Thursday didn't verbally respond, just sorting through their catch to double-check values and pile them up into fair amounts to be carried. Wanting to distract herself from her chaotic thoughts, Dextra knelt down to help.

At the appointed meeting place, Penguin sat casually with a few other Heart Pirates as they waited on the kids. Depending on how big the place really was and how much stuff they'd actually be able to take, they could be gone from around thirty minutes to two or three hours. He wasn't really expecting it to be a fast trip…so imagine his surprise when he saw Heinrich heading over, trying to look as casual as possible but clearly a little nervous.

"Hey, kid, you're here early." Penguin stated, putting on a teasing expression so as not to seem suspicious.

"Yeah, well, I had to go ahead of the others, they had a bit of trouble." Heinrich responded, acting as though he just meant some trouble with a stray cat or groceries. "Mind helping us out?"

Most of what he said was normal, the signal to go get the stolen goods the kids had taken. But the added part about having trouble made Penguin frown. Did something happen? Were the girls okay? It wasn't often they slipped up, if at all, he hoped nothing too major happened. If either Dextra or Thursday were severely hurt Law would have his head. Their Captain may deny it but he clearly liked these kids, for whatever reason nobody knew, and they didn't want to get him upset.

Penguin nodded to the other members and they all stood.

"Alright, we'll come help out." He said to Heinrich.

The young boy nodded and quickly led the way back to the hiding spot. Once out of range of civilian eyes and ears, the mechanic turned to the small thief.

"So what happened?" He questioned.

"We got a little overconfident." Heinrich scratched his head. "We got spotted and chased, and while we were escaping, Thursday twisted her ankle on a falling box."

"Nothing too serious?" Penguin clarified. "No one got caught? Did they see your face?"

"They might have seen Dextra's…" Heinrich said honestly. "But it was just a brief glance, and Thursday could still throw knives so we took out most of them. Nobody got caught though…just spotted. Other than Thursday's ankle we're all fine."

Penguin nodded, believing him, and Heinrich let out a mental sigh of relief. But it was easy enough to convince Penguin. No, the real challenge would be fooling Law. They had to keep up this lie as long as they could until they could figure out how to explain it. As long as no one knew about stealing a Devil Fruit from Joker it would be fine, right? It's not like they'd ever see that creep again, and he doubted this Joker person would go through the trouble of searching out Dextra. If he knew anything about underground Bosses is that they'd rather spend energy punishing the idiot who lost the item then trying to find the item.

By the time Heinrich returned with the older pirates behind him, Dextra had calmed down from her shock and had on a convincing poker face, only showing worry over Thursday's injury and not revealing anything about her new form. For the short time they had and their close call, Penguin was impressed with their catch. As per usual, the pirates took the majority of the prizes and headed back, no concerns at all, because pirates were supposed to steal things. Penguin stayed back with the kids and hid the rest in pockets, carrying Thursday out who pretended to be asleep while the other two trailed behind him. If she walked on her own it would be with a limp, and that would give her away. Dextra kept her hood up to hide her face.

Law was waiting for them at the ship, looking somewhat annoyed, and Dextra got nervous again, holding her head down in shame.

"I heard what happened." Law sighed. "And while I'm disappointed you were careless enough to be spotted, the fact that you made it out unscathed save for a twisted ankle is impressive."

"Probably just karma for being stupid and not being quiet on that last run." Thursday huffed, though she also looked ashamed under Law's stare, perhaps even a little nervous. "The place was so big and there were so few of them, I didn't think they'd hear me."

He looked between the three of them briefly, noting Dextra's ashamed look. If it was Thursday who messed up, why did Dextra act like she was the one in trouble? Then again, Dextra had a habit of taking blame for her little group's actions if she was in any way involved with the event. Heinrich also seemed a bit stiff…but Law knew he was overprotective of his younger 'siblings' since he was the oldest, therefore like the big brother, and anything that happened to them he pinned on himself. He let out a heavy sigh; he'd get the other children to console these two later, it was only a little slip-up, no reason to feel like they were going to get punished.

Still, even small mistakes could have huge consequences, and it was too soon for them to be making mistakes now when they were still in the first half – the easy half – of the Grand Line.

"Overconfidence has the potential to kill." Law warned them, before turning away and heading inside. "Penguin, take Thursday to the infirmary, I'll deal with her ankle."

"Aye, Captain." The mechanic replied as he followed the taller man into the sub, still carrying Thursday who complained she could still walk on her own.

Heinrich waited until they were out of sight before turning to Dextra.

"See? He believed it." He whispered to her, patting her on the back. "And we didn't really lie to him…just left out a thing."

"A very important thing." Dextra muttered.

"But it's okay, we'll…tell him at some point…don't worry, he wouldn't get too angry with you."

The younger girl nodded, though she was still unsure. How could she learn to control her power if she couldn't use it without giving away their lie? And if Law figured out about it, that they didn't tell him…she was afraid of him hating her. She was afraid he'd kick her out, and she didn't want that. She wanted to stay with the Heart Pirates.

This was exactly why she didn't want to tell him now. What if he thought she was too much of a risk now with some underworld big shot after her fruit power? She could only hope Joker would just forget about it now that it was lost. He apparently didn't know about it to begin with.

For now, she would stick with the older kids' story; that they had been spotted but not caught. Law was disappointed just with that…he didn't need to know how bad they really screwed up. It wouldn't hurt to keep it secret…right?

* * *

**Well at least it's a cool power, yeah? But now they gotta hide it from Papa, which could be bad, because it was for Joker...oh boy.**

**So yeah, as you probably noticed, I post this one in arcs. This would be the end of the second. I do it this way because it's a collab effort so I want to check with the other person for ideas or any changes, and I could end up changing the beginning of the arc, so I don't want to post it until the whole arc is done. Enjoy!**


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